Let and . Decomposing at the first return and using the Markov property gives the renewal equation
For , define the probability generating functions and . Absolute convergence, or nonnegative summation, justifies the convolution identity . The binomial series gives
Solving the renewal identity gives the first-return generating function of the simple symmetric random walk
As consistency checks, as , confirming recurrence, while . By monotone convergence of , this last limit is , confirming null recurrent states.